The Stars Shine Down
by Star24
Summary: Why did Thor promise Jane he would return for her and why did she agree?


_**It seemed to me as I watched the movie that we were missing a piece of the relationship between Jane and Thor. Something more had to have happened between the time we left them on the roof and the coming of the Destroyer. Something that made Thor promise he would return for Jane, and made Jane lay that kiss on him. This is my take on what that something was.**_

_**The usual disclaimers apply.**_

"…Jotunheim. And Asgard. And that's where I come from." Thor's finger traced the planet he had identified as Asgard, lingering there momentarily as if touching it could somehow bring him closer to his home. He sat with his head bent, silently studying the rough diagram of what he had called the Nine Realms of the Cosmos, connected together by Yggdrasil, the World Tree.

I reached out and touched his hand. His flesh was warm despite the chill of the night air. He turned his hand under mine so that we were palm to palm. After a moment his fingers curled around mine. It seemed as if the world let out a breath it had been holding, as if it had been waiting for this moment.

We stared at each other. I shivered a bit and it broke the spell.

"You're cold." Concern filled his blue eyes.

"No, it's okay. I told you, I come up here all the time." I pulled my jacket tighter around me.

He ignored me and rose from his chair. He walked to the woodpile that I kept on the roof and came back with several logs that he placed into the fire pit. The logs caught fire and I slid back into my chair as the fire blazed up, sending out a shower of sparks followed by a rush of warmth. Thor positioned the other chair so that it was next to and touching mine, and leaned back into it. We both watched the night sky.

"Why are you here?" I finally ventured. "Did you get lost coming across the…" I hesitated,"…Rainbow Bridge?"

"I am banished. Forbidden to return to my home." His voice was low as he spoke the harsh words and he refused to meet my eyes.

That was the last thing I expected to hear. For a moment Erik's words echoed in my mind, "_Jane, he's dangerous._" I gave myself a mental shake. The man who had screamed out his anguish and heartbreak to the sky, the man who had brought back my notebook, and who had charmingly apologized for his behavior earlier, was not dangerous, at least not to me. I knew that in my heart. I reached over and took his hand.

"Banished?" I questioned him. "But why, and, who banished you?"

"My father." He answered my second question first. I waited. He sighed. "Because, he said, I was vain, and greedy, and cruel. He was right."

"Thor, I don't believe you are any of those things." I remembered my young adult years and my clashes with my parents. "Sometimes it's hard between parents and their children. They don't want to believe their kids have grown up and it's hard for them to let them make their own mistakes. I remember the Spring Break when my college roommate and I broke into her parents' liquor cabinet and got smashed. We were grounded for a month, despite the fact that we were 21 years old and legal at the time."

Thor frowned at my words. "Jane, I don't understand all of what you are saying, but I am sure it was nothing but youthful good times. My offense was far more serious than that."

"What could you have possibly done to merit being banished from your entire world? That's kind of an extreme timeout if you ask me." I declared.

He was silent and then he sighed, "I may have started a war with the Frost Giants of Jotunheim."

I was silent, trying to figure out what one says to a man who has just casually told you that he might be responsible for starting an interplanetary war.

"Started a war? Isn't that a bit extreme? How could you have started a war anyway? Unless you personally assassinated some Grand High Mucky Mucky of something, I would think it would be hard for one person to start a war between planets."

He didn't answer.

A chill and not a good one, went down my spine. "Thor," I said slowly, "just exactly who are you back home on Asgard? I mean you aren't really…" I faltered, not wanting to make a fool of myself by spouting children's stories at him.

He looked at me for the first time in a few minutes. "I am Thor, Odin's son."

"Odin as in Odin, the King of the Gods?" This wasn't possible. I couldn't have stumbled into a fairy tale. I'm a scientist for god's sake. Despite my words to Erik earlier, I don't really believe in magic and gods come down to earth.

"Odin Allfather, the King of Asgard. My father."

"So you're like, the heir to the throne? The Prince of Asgard?" I was having a hard time taking it in. Reading it in a book was one thing, hearing this all too real, not to mention gorgeous, man confirm it to me was something else.

"I was. Not any longer. My father has taken my power, disowned me, and banished me. Now I am just a mortal man, stranded here on your world." The pain and sadness in his eyes struck me and I squeezed his hand, giving him what comfort I could.

"You'll never be _just_ a man, Thor. But how did you start a war? And why would you want to do that?" I shivered once again as a gust of cold wind blew across the roof.

Thor reached over to put his arm around my shoulders and share his warmth with me, but the chair arms were in the way, digging into our sides and making it awkward and uncomfortable. He muttered something under his breath and before I knew what he planned, he sat up, reached over, and picked me up as if I weighed nothing. He settled back, holding me on his lap with his strong arms wrapped around me. The chair creaked alarmingly, but it held.

"Wha…" I stammered. I wriggled in his hold turning so I could see his face.

"If we are to stay out here, I refuse to watch you shiver with the cold." His tone made it clear that he wasn't about to argue about it. The temperature had dropped as the night wore on, and I had to admit he had a point. His arms and body were warm and it was definitely more comfortable being held close to him, sharing in his body heat. I waited for him to answer my last questions. He stared at the sky as he gathered his thoughts and then he began.

"It was the day that I had waited for and prepared for all of my life, my coronation day. My father had a need to go into the Odin sleep and he wanted me to take the throne while he slept. The entire realm was there, in the great hall of the palace, to bear witness as I took my vows as King of Asgard. At the front, standing on the steps before the throne, were my mother, my brother, Loki, and my greatest friends and companions at arms, the Warriors Three and the Lady Sif.

"Jane, if you could only have seen the crowd. They cheered for me as I walked to kneel before my father. I was in truth their Prince and Warrior, The Might Thor, the Wielder of the great hammer, Mjölnir." He paused and seemed lost in thought. I was fascinated, as I pictured it in my mind.

"What happened?" I asked, as he remained silent.

"I had taken the final vow of kingship and my father had begun the declaration that would make me the King of Asgard, when we all felt it. A creeping cold was in the air and ice formed on the floor of the great hall. We knew at once that it was Frost Giants, somehow come into our kingdom, past all of our safeguards and wards, past even the gaze of the Gatekeeper, Heimdall. The ceremony was halted and my father and Loki and I made our way with all speed to the vault, where our greatest treasures, along with the most deadly weapons of the Nine Realms, are held in safekeeping.

"We arrived in the vault to find our guards dead, frozen solid, along with the bodies of three Frost Giants. The Destroyer had done its job and it stood waiting for us, holding the Casket of Ancient Winters safe in its metal hands. I was furious that the Frost Giants had dared to invade Asgard in such a way and on such a day. I told my father we must invade Jotunheim to teach them a lesson."

"What did he say?" I prompted when he stopped.

"He refused. I was angry and left him there with my brother." He paused once again.

"Thor? Do you want to stop? I don't need to hear this if it's too hard for you."

His arms tightened around me and for a few moments we sat that way. "I need to tell you," he finally said. "I would not have you think me better than I am."

He went on to tell me of defying his father's express orders and convincing his brother and his four friends to go with him to Jotunheim, where a vicious and deadly battle took place. In the end, Thor and his companions found themselves surrounded and outnumbered, facing certain death, until Odin appeared to stare down the king of the Frost Giants and return them all safely to Asgard. But the damage had been done. The King of Jotunheim refused to forgive Thor's trespass and declared a state of war between Asgard and Jotunheim.

"My father and I had words, strong words, angry words, on our return to Asgard. I called him a foolish old man. I was too blind to see it at the time, but I think I broke his heart when I did so. He told me I was unworthy to be King of Asgard, that I had betrayed my kingdom and my loved ones, and he took Mjölnir from me and sent me here to Earth in the form of a mortal man."

"Where I ran into you with my car, and Darcy tasered you." I said softly. "You really did have the bad day to end all bad days."

He smiled at me, "Not the worst of days. I did meet you." My heart jumped and I wondered if he could feel it, as close as we were. The thought crossed my mind that his smile alone should be classified as a deadly weapon.

I hurriedly spoke so as to cover up my reaction, "Soooo, the crater and the 'satellite'. Can I take a wild guess that it's actually Mjölnir?"

He nodded. Things were coming clear in my mind. "If it's your hammer, why weren't you able to lift it? "

He shrugged, "My father has declared me unworthy to wield it."

"But then, why send it to earth and have it land near to where you landed? Why not put it into that vault where you said all your greatest weapons are stored?"

There was an arrested light in Thor's eyes as he said slowly, "My mother has always told me that my father does nothing without reason. That he always has a plan. So if he sent the hammer here to earth…"

"…he's giving you a chance. Thor, he still believes in you."

I watched as a new light came into his eyes, pushing out the sadness. He hugged me."Jane, you truly are most clever. Why did I not see it for myself?"

"Because sometimes it takes someone outside of yourself. That's what friends are for. To see the things you are too close to see for yourself." I smiled at him.

"Friends," he said softly. "Yes, I like that. I have missed my friends from Asgard."

We fell silent and I curled into his warmth. The stars twinkled above us and the full moon was high in the sky. Thor put a finger under my chin and gently turned my face up to his. Our eyes met. His were the bluest eyes I have ever seen in my life. They reminded me of snorkeling in the Caribbean. The waters had been crystal clear and that exact shade of blue. His hands gently framed my face.

"So lovely," he whispered huskily. "So lovely and clever and brave."

We stared at each other, transfixed. Above our heads the stars shone in the dark New Mexico sky. I don't know who moved first, or if we moved simultaneously, but I felt the soft whisper of his breath on my face and then the gentle touch of his lips on mine. The kiss lasted no time and it lasted forever.

Thor pulled back, "Jane, I made a promise to Erik. I told him I meant you no harm."

I was puzzled, "And you have done me no harm, Thor. In fact, you've done just the opposite. You returned my notebook to me and you've made me believe that I'm on the right track with my research. You don't realize how huge that is."

He shook his head, "I must not do this. I am not worthy of you. Not yet. Erik is right."

I sighed. What was it about men and my luck with them? Donald had been a self-absorbed jerk and now it appeared that Thor was determined to be exactly the opposite. Just then, I yawned.

"Jane, it is late and you need to sleep. We should go down."

"I seem to recall that Erik is using my bed." I said wryly. "Anyway I've spent more than a few nights up here. If you want to go you can, but I think I'll stay."

"If you stay then so do I. I will not leave you alone here."

"Have it your way."

His arms tightened on me once again and I let myself go, sliding into sleep wrapped in his warmth. As I fell I heard him whisper softly, "Thank you, Jane."


End file.
